Volume 58, Issue 51 pp. 18683-18690
Research Article

Barcoding Biological Reactions with DNA-Functionalized Vesicles

Justin A. Peruzzi

Justin A. Peruzzi

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, USA

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Miranda L. Jacobs

Miranda L. Jacobs

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering, Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Il, 60208 USA

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Timothy Q. Vu

Timothy Q. Vu

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering, Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Il, 60208 USA

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Kenneth S. Wang

Kenneth S. Wang

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering, Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Il, 60208 USA

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Prof. Neha P. Kamat

Corresponding Author

Prof. Neha P. Kamat

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering, Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Il, 60208 USA

Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, USA

Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, USA

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First published: 09 October 2019
Citations: 29

Graphical Abstract

A new phase: By leveraging membrane domains and DNA tethers, synthetic vesicles may be designed to selectively fuse and initiate biological reactions upon content mixing.

Abstract

Targeted vesicle fusion is a promising approach to selectively control interactions between vesicle compartments and would enable the initiation of biological reactions in complex aqueous environments. Here, we explore how two features of vesicle membranes, DNA tethers and phase-segregated membranes, promote fusion between specific vesicle populations. Membrane phase-segregation provides an energetic driver for membrane fusion that increases the efficiency of DNA-mediated fusion events. The orthogonality provided by DNA tethers allows us to direct fusion and delivery of DNA cargo to specific vesicle populations. Vesicle fusion between DNA-tethered vesicles can be used to initiate in vitro protein expression to produce model soluble and membrane proteins. Engineering orthogonal fusion events between DNA-tethered vesicles provides a new strategy to control the spatiotemporal dynamics of cell-free reactions, expanding opportunities to engineer artificial cellular systems.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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